CSR is embedded in Virtuos’ three core values of excellence, trust, and positivity. We are committed to contributing towards improving standards for our clients and employees, minimizing our impact on the environment, and improving the quality of the local communities we are part of. Learn more about our CSR approach and achievements below, and about our policies here.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Our Commitments
Supporting the education of the younger generation
As an equal opportunity employer, Virtuos sees education as pivotal to increasing social equity as it empowers young talent and removes a barrier to entry to tech industries such as video game development. We support access to education by providing skills training, scholarships, and employment-oriented courses, especially for underprivileged students. For example, our three-month paid training program provides talent with hands-on coaching by our in-house experts on AAA game design and development, with learning plans designed and personalized to the individual’s aptitude. Upon successful completion of their program, participants have the opportunity to join Virtuos as full-time employees and participate in the making of world-class games.
OUR 2025 TARGETS
300
Number of students benefitting from Virtuos’ scholarships
20%
Increase in number of interns and trainees per year
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
260
Virtuos volunteers in Green IT Classroom program
3,500
Student beneficiaries of refurbished IT equipment
3,800
Books donated to schools
University engagements and scholarships
We actively establish partnerships with local universities as we believe that school-enterprise cooperation is key to helping the younger generation integrate real-world experiences with theoretical knowledge to achieve holistic learning. Other than attending career fairs and conducting regular school visits, we also organise studio tours and industry sharing sessions for students. These events are aimed at providing students an inside look at the games industry, game development process, and relevant technology and software, alongside valuable insights from our employees.
Virtuos also establishes scholarship programs with universities to recognize and reward outstanding university students who excel in their academics. We have successfully delivered scholarships to over 70 students since 2021, working in collaboration with universities such as Huanghuai University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Vietnam University of Fine Arts. Scholarship programs are a meaningful way for us to positively impact the local communities we operate in, and we look forward to strengthening our partnerships with schools to support the next generation of talent in achieving their aspirations.
Green IT Classroom Program
One of our key projects is the Green IT Classroom program, created in collaboration with NetSpring in 2019. It is aimed at creating long-term positive impact by fostering digital inclusion for underprivileged youth, while minimizing our environmental impact by refurbishing and donating used computers. Virtuos currently has five Green IT Classrooms established in China and Vietnam. Since 2019, the program has seen the refurbishment of 260 computers and supporting equipment, all of which were donated to schools to benefit over 3,500 students. More than 260 of our employees have also volunteered over 1,400 hours to provide learning opportunities such as in digital art, IT literacy, and reading.
Besides that, we recognize the long-term value of education in increasing one’s environmental awareness. To encourage students to appreciate the environment and stimulate their creativity, we also organize annual environmental-themed art competitions. In 2023, the theme was “Life in Green in the Eyes of Children” and a total of 95 paintings were submitted for the competition by students across China. We are heartened to see the success of the program in bridging the digital gap for underprivileged students. We will continue to strengthen our commitment and efforts to ensure the sustainability of the Green IT Classroom program and look forward to empowering our future generations to come.
Key Activities
Professionalism at Work
Glass Egg organised this workshop to equip and empower over 80 university students from Arena Multimedia, Green Academy, and FPT University with essential soft skills. Participants were provided with curated case study materials to hone their soft skills.
Studio Open Days
Virtuos Kuala Lumpur hosted game design and animation students from local colleges such as Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Raffles University. During the sessions, students are given the opportunity to witness our 3D game art production pipeline and gain valuable career insights from our employees’ sharing.
Scholarship Programs
Black Shamrock launched a scholarship programme together with Ballyfermot College of Further Education. The scholarship fees provide comprehensive coverage for course fees, trips, and the necessary educational materials.
Our Commitments
Contributing to global carbon neutrality
The environmental impact of video game development spans the mining of materials for hardware to the energy required for software processing. To ensure sustainable growth, we commit to taking actions to achieve carbon neutrality in our operations. We focus on measuring the environmental impact of our global operations and monitoring progress against our targets. In both 2021 and 2022, we have successfully achieved carbon neutrality by reducing our energy consumption, adopting renewable energy, and offsetting our emissions.
Minimizing our impact on the environment
We believe that environmental sustainability starts with personal responsibility. By increasing employees’ awareness on the actions they can take to reduce their individual impact on the environment, we hope to make the world a better place, together. Some of the activities we engage in actively include tree planting, beach clean-ups, energy-saving challenges, and green picnic days.
Through Virtuos’ Green IT Classroom Program, created in collaboration with NetSpring in 2019, we also minimize our environmental impact by refurbishing and donating computers to underprivileged youth. The program is currently active in China and Vietnam.
Our 2025 targets
Achieve carbon neutrality annually
Adopt 100% renewable energy sources
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
>97% renewable energy
in 2022 through purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
12+ tonnes
electronic equipment processed and eco-dismantled since 2012
Carbon neutrality
across eleven studios representing 96% of employees in 2022
Energy Management
We actively look for opportunities to reduce electricity consumption such as switching to LEDs and ensuring that computers and lights are turned off during non-working hours. To better understand our electricity consumption by type of usage, we started implementing power plugs and tags in some studios in 2021. In 2022, Virtuos Shanghai launched a pilot programme to trial a solution that automatically switches off computers after work hours, then tracked and measured the reduction in electricity consumption. Since then, the solution has been implemented in other studios such as Virtuos Chengdu, Sparx*, and Glass Egg.
To monitor energy performance per studio, we are also measuring the electricity consumption and intensity per employee, including interns, trainees, and external vendors. This is tracked across our largest studios in eight cities. While there was an increase of electricity consumption due to a larger headcount, we managed to reduce electricity intensity by 10% from 1.75 MWh per employee in 2021 to 1.57 MWh per employee in 2022.
Carbon Management
We consider carbon neutrality as an imperative CSR objective. In 2022, we achieved carbon neutrality representing 96% of employees across our studios. We embark on initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and carbon offsets to neutralize our residual GHG emissions.
We are working towards our goal of achieving 100% renewable energy across our studios. In 2022, we have achieved 97% renewable energy by matching our electricity consumption with RECs. To compensate for our residual emissions, we purchase high-quality carbon credits from fully verified projects in China: Henan Funiushan Solar Cooker Project and WWF Meigu High Efficient Cook Stove Project. These credits have since been retired, saving 1,934 tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Green Office
In 2023, Virtuos Singapore obtained the highest tier of Elite in the Eco Office Assessment organised by the Singapore Environmental Council. Following this, an internal eco office assessment was deployed across other studios to identify good practices and opportunities for improvement. Studios continuously embark on various environmental office initiatives and cultivate employee awareness, such as:
- Communicating regularly on environmental targets, the Group Environmental Policy and Procurement Policy through the intranet and studio meetings
- Using eco-friendly appliances such as LED lights and ENERGY star certified appliances whenever possible
- Providing reusable mugs and cutlery to encourage staff to eliminate the use of single-use plastics
- Establishing recycling infrastructures to facilitate better waste management and ensure that the different waste streams are properly sorted. Through this, we aim to inculcate recycling habits amongst in our employees
CARBON INVENTORY VERIFICATION STATEMENT
TEMBUSU Asia has conducted an independent verification of Virtuos’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory. The reasonable assurance report can be found below.
Key Activities
Tree Planting
Together with the Malaysian Nature Society, Virtuos Kuala Lumpur successfully planted a total of 600 seedlings and played a part in promoting environmental conservation.
Beach Clean-up
Virtuos Singapore teamed up with Green Nudge for a beach clean-up exercise at Tanah Merah Beach and collected 608kg of trash in total.
Environmental Workshop
Glass Egg employees engaged in a Climate Fresk workshop which utilises an interactive card game model to help participants understand the complexities of the climate change and consequences of climate disruptions.
Our Commitments
Promoting women in the video games industry
We recognize the vital role of women in video game development, and that gender equality needs to be accelerated to achieve sustainable development. It is our belief that having more women in our company and the video games industry would lead to more diverse skillsets, perspectives, and the creation of even better games. To help make gender equity a lasting reality in the industry, we contribute to concerted efforts as a Women in Games Corporate Ambassador and founding donor to Women in Animation’s Global Fund.
Fostering diversity and equality among our employees
We believe that diversity adds flair to our workplace and culture. As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to helping our talent thrive and grow to their fullest potential. Starting with gender diversity, we are targeting to have women make up 40% of our senior management and total workforce globally by 2025.
Our 2025 Targets
40%
women in senior management
40%
women in our workplace
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
Women in Animation
Global Fund Donor since 2019
Women in Games
Corporate Ambassador since 2021
30%
women employees as of 2022
Developing talent as diverse as the world around us
At Virtuos, diversity and equality remain a top priority for us as we continue to grow. Our gender diversity approach is built upon three pillars of promote, recruit, retain and empower – brought to life through key initiatives such as below.
Promote: To drive gender inclusivity and inspire more women to join the games industry, we actively partner with organizations such as Women in Games and Women in Animation. We also regularly participate in career fairs to connect with the local community, share insights into life in game development, and encourage networking and professional growth.
Recruit: We promote the education and empowerment of aspiring female game development talent through different events, workshops, and scholarships. Some of these initiatives includes regular studio tours and college outreach to challenge gender stereotypes and promote potential career paths. Internally, our hiring managers and executives go through unconscious bias training to mitigate the impact of implicit bias and uphold fair, equal opportunities for all candidates
Retain and Empower: To ensure that our female colleagues feel supported, valued, and empowered at Virtuos, we strive to create a safe and conducive working environment. We hold regular knowledge sharing and networking sessions to encourage team members to communicate and collaborate across departments and studios. Some initiatives include our #ChooseToChallenge interview series in celebration of International Womens’ Day and “Empowering moms in gaming” networking sessions on Mother’s Day.
Our human resources policy is also designed to ensure equal access to employment, learning, and development opportunities, as well as fair pay for equal skills and performance.
Employee diversity breakdown
As an equal opportunity employer, Virtuos has grown sustainably over the years. We have over 3,500 employees worldwide, of which 30% are women. We continue to strive towards our target of a 40% women workforce and senior management by 2025.
Key Activities
Women Game Changers
First launched in 2021 by Virtuos studios in Vietnam, the Women Game Changers scholarship is aimed at empowering more female students to join and develop careers in the game industry. We hope to build a level playing field for female artists and animators in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
Engaging Communities
In 2022, Virtuos was the headline sponsor of Women in Games (WIG) festival satellite events. Black Shamrock kicked things off by hosting “Tea Talks”, a hybrid networking event in Dublin for aspiring female game creators and industry professionals. Virtuos’ Europe HR teams then connected with talent worldwide to share insights into games industry careers at the WIG Careers Expo.
College Outreach
In 2023, Virtuos Shanghai conducted a sharing session in the International Fashion Academy of Shanghai University of Engineering Science. The sharing is aimed at encouraging more women students to pursue a career in the games industry. Our General Manager also gave a personal account of her career progression and the support Virtuos provided her with over these years.
